Thursday, July 09, 2015

Hillary Clinton Supports Illegal Israeli Settlements

Clinton's support for Israel is unwavering - one-sided like virtually everyone else in Washington. Palestinian rights don't matter except at times paying them disingenuous lip service.

As a New York senator (from January 2001 - January 2009), Clinton said "undivided Jerusalem as (Israel's) capital…must never be questioned" - or its status as "a Jewish state," regardless of its large Arab population on privately owned land and recognition under international law as an international city under a UN protectorate.

She supported cutting off Palestinian aid - ignoring the harm it would cause. She outspokenly defended unrestricted Israeli West Bank colonization - on stolen Palestinian land.

She believes it's as much an Israeli right as statehood for Palestinians. She moderated her tone slightly as Secretary of State (January 2009 - February 2013).

Her response to continued settlement construction is the need to resolve differences between Israel and Palestine diplomatically - "through direct negotiations between" both sides - despite Tel Aviv's longstanding all take/no give policy, why decades of peace talks were dead on arrival.

In 2011, she got Obama to veto a Security Council resolution calling Israeli settlements illegal and wanting a freeze imposed. "We have consistently over many years said that the United Nations Security Council - and resolutions that would come before (it) - is not the right vehicle to advance this goal," she said.

It's a key policy tool under international law provided enforcement with teeth follows - never against Israel even when earlier resolutions passed.

Clinton opposes humanitarian missions to illegally besieged Gaza with essentials to life in short supply or not available altogether. She calls them "provoc(ative) actions…creating a situation in which the Israelis have the right to defend themselves" - against nonthreatening food, medicines, medical equipment, blankets and other vital relief supplies?

She calls legitimate Palestinian waters Israeli territory. Her State Department never condemned its high seas piracy, its Mavi Marmara murders, its daily ruthless persecution throughout the Territories, its wars of aggression.

She wants the global BDS campaign undermined. She's concerned about how effectively it publicizes Israeli crimes and causes economic harm.

She supports its apartheid wall - on stolen Palestinian land, isolating them increasingly in unconnected bantustans while subjecting them to brutalizing military rule.

She irresponsibly blamed Hamas for Israel's summer 2014 naked aggression on Gaza. She shamelessly said "Israel did what it had to do. (It) has a right to defend itself" - despite facing no threats while waging premeditated wars without mercy at its discretion.

She ludicrously claimed Israel like America avoids targeting civilians. Both nations do it deliberately.

"I don't know a nation, no matter what its values are - and I think that democratic nations have demonstrably better values in a conflict position - that hasn’t made errors, but ultimately the responsibility rests with Hamas," she blustered.

In other words, blame victims for its high crimes - longstanding US and Israeli policy. She called murdering Palestinian children in cold blood "the fog of war."

She supports Netanyahu's hardline West Bank control - thinly veiled ruthless persecution. "If I were the prime minister of Israel, you're damn right I would" do the same thing, she said.

She claims Israel only responds to provocations - like imprisoning minors for stone-throwing, torturing them during interrogations, shooting Palestinians in cold blood, stealing their land, terrorizing Gazan fishermen threatening no one, and waging dirty wars on fabricated pretexts.

She lies about Hamas provoking Israel to respond. Truth is polar opposite. A Clinton presidency guarantees continued US support for Israeli state terror against defenseless Palestinians.

It assures more endless US wars of aggression. It threatens world peace.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.